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Furious over pension bill, Kentucky teachers storm Frankfort

Teachers and students gathered in Frankfort on Friday to speak against the pension bill that passed unexpectedly the night before. Many teachers called in sick Friday. Andy Beshear says he will sue.

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Hundreds of teachers from school districts around Kentucky rallied in Frankfort on Friday morning after pension reform legislation was pushed through on Thursday night.
March 30, 2018(Photo: Michael Clevenger/Louisville Courier Journal)Buy Photo

The pension bill was unveiled Thursday afternoon when a legislative committee without warning resurrected a bill that seemed near death for three weeks. The new pension bill was tacked onto Senate Bill 151, which originally dealt with "wastewater services," creating a 291-page bill that some argued they hadn't had time to read.

The bill cleared both chambers and now goes to the desk of Gov. Matt Bevin, who praised lawmakers who supported the bill, saying anyone who receives a retirement check in years ahead "owes a deep debt of gratitude" to those 71 lawmakers.

Lynn Fiechter, a Scott County teacher, said she watched the Senate vote Thursday night.

"It just broke me," she said, standing at the rotunda balcony. "We were not just going to sit home."

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Hundreds of teachers from school districts around Kentucky rallied in Frankfort on Friday morning after pension reform legislation was pushed through on Thursday night.
March 30, 2018 Michael Clevenger/Louisville Courier Journal

Hundreds of teachers from school districts around Kentucky rallied in Frankfort on Friday morning after pension reform legislation was pushed through on Thursday night.
March 30, 2018 Michael Clevenger/Louisville Courier Journal

Hundreds of teachers from school districts around Kentucky rallied in Frankfort on Friday morning after pension reform legislation was pushed through on Thursday night.
March 30, 2018 Michael Clevenger/Louisville Courier Journal

Hundreds of teachers from school districts around Kentucky rallied in Frankfort on Friday morning after pension reform legislation was pushed through on Thursday night.
March 30, 2018 Michael Clevenger/Louisville Courier Journal

Hundreds of teachers from school districts around Kentucky rallied in Frankfort on Friday morning after pension reform legislation was pushed through on Thursday night.
March 30, 2018 Michael Clevenger/Louisville Courier Journal

Hundreds of teachers from school districts around Kentucky rallied in Frankfort on Friday morning after pension reform legislation was pushed through on Thursday night.
March 30, 2018 Michael Clevenger/Louisville Courier Journal

Representative Rocky Adkins speaks to the crowd as hundreds of teachers from school districts around Kentucky rallied in Frankfort on Friday morning after pension reform legislation was pushed through on Thursday night.
March 30, 2018 Michael Clevenger/Louisville Courier Journal

Representative Rocky Adkins greats teachers as hundreds of teachers from school districts around Kentucky rallied in Frankfort on Friday morning after pension reform legislation was pushed through on Thursday night.
March 30, 2018 Michael Clevenger/Louisville Courier Journal

Attorney General Andy Beshear speaks to the crowd as hundreds of teachers from school districts around Kentucky rallied in Frankfort on Friday morning after pension reform legislation was pushed through on Thursday night.
March 30, 2018 Michael Clevenger/Louisville Courier Journal

Attorney General Andy Beshear greats teachers as hundreds of teachers from school districts around Kentucky rallied in Frankfort on Friday morning after pension reform legislation was pushed through on Thursday night.
March 30, 2018 Michael Clevenger/Louisville Courier Journal

Hundreds of teachers from school districts around Kentucky rallied in Frankfort on Friday morning after pension reform legislation was pushed through on Thursday night.
March 30, 2018 Michael Clevenger/Louisville Courier Journal

Hundreds of teachers from school districts around Kentucky rallied in Frankfort on Friday morning after pension reform legislation was pushed through on Thursday night.
March 30, 2018 Michael Clevenger/Louisville Courier Journal

Hundreds of teachers from school districts around Kentucky rallied in Frankfort on Friday morning after pension reform legislation was pushed through on Thursday night.
March 30, 2018 Michael Clevenger/Louisville Courier Journal

Hundreds of teachers from school districts around Kentucky rallied in Frankfort on Friday morning after pension reform legislation was pushed through on Thursday night.
March 30, 2018 Michael Clevenger/Louisville Courier Journal

Hundreds of teachers from school districts around Kentucky rallied in Frankfort on Friday morning after pension reform legislation was pushed through on Thursday night.
March 30, 2018 Michael Clevenger/Louisville Courier Journal

Hundreds of teachers from school districts around Kentucky rallied in Frankfort on Friday morning after pension reform legislation was pushed through on Thursday night.
March 30, 2018 Michael Clevenger/Louisville Courier Journal

Gay Adelmann works on building up the crowd during a rally in Frankfort following the passage of pension reform legislation on Thursday night.
March 30, 2018 Michael Clevenger/Louisville Courier Journal

Hundreds of teachers from school districts around Kentucky rallied in Frankfort on Friday morning after pension reform legislation was pushed through on Thursday night.
March 30, 2018 Michael Clevenger/Louisville Courier Journal

Nema Brewer works on building up the crowd as the teachers showed up to rally in Frankfort following the passage of pension reform legislation on Thursday night.
March 30, 2018 Michael Clevenger/Louisville Courier Journal

Adkins said he believes the teachers’ continued presence at the Capitol will have an impact, describing Friday’s turnout as extraordinary.

“I have never seen as much energy across Kentucky,” Adkins said. “There’s no question these teachers are extremely upset.”

And Adkins predicted even more furor Monday when the legislators return to take up the state budget. School districts across Kentucky will be on spring break, and Adkins said he expects “thousands” of teachers.

Adkins added he doesn’t think the public will be upset by the “sick out” that closed school districts across Kentucky on Friday. "I think the people of Kentucky are going to stand up for education," Adkins said.

Teachers at the Capitol said Thursday's surprise passage of the pension bill was the final insult to educators already frustrated by cuts to education, shortages of classroom supplies and what they perceive to be a growing disregard for public educators among some elected officials.

Stephanie Ikanovic, a teacher in Jefferson County, said she thinks the outpouring of angry teachers Friday reflects the mood of workers in general dealing with cuts to pensions, wages and other benefits.

“It’s an attack on American workers,” she said. “It’s all over the country.”

Many of the signs at the rally referred to the last-minute pension measure's being grafted onto a sewage treatment bill, Senate Bill 151. Comments on social media among teachers referred to it as the “sewer bill.”

At the protest, one teacher held a sign that read "This bill stinks!" with the picture of a sewer grate.

“When you equate public education and teachers with sewage, it says a lot,” said McCutcheon, one of the Jefferson County teachers.

Beshear, a Democrat, has said the pension plan devised by the Republicans who control the House and Senate is unconstitutional. He said Friday the revised plan is no different.

“The fact remains it is a highly unconstitutional bill,” he said. “I believe a court is going to overturn it.”

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Andy Beshear, the Democratic attorney general, said if Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin signs the bill into law as expected, "We will take this to court."

Rep. Jim Wayne, D-Louisville, also expressed concerns about the legality of the process on Thursday night as the bill quickly moved through the legislature. "We need an actuarial analysis. There is no actuarial analysis," he said. "... We have a 291-page document put before us without any input whatsoever from the stakeholders."

The teachers union put out an urgent call Thursday for its members to travel to Frankfort to protest the bill, but said it did not recommend for teachers to call out of work Friday.

"JCTA is NOT recommending a job action, such as some are promoting on social media," said a post on the Jefferson County Teachers Association's Facebook page.

Brent McKim, the union's president, said JCTA will bring two legal challenges against the bill.

First, it will challenge a provision that no longer allows teachers to use unused sick days when calculating their pension benefits. Second, McKim said, the union will challenge the entire bill, calling it unconstitutional. He claims the legislature broke state law by passing the bill without an actuarial analysis.

"We will be challenging legally the entire passage of the bill," he said.

The Kentucky Education Association, the statewide teachers union, is urging teachers to head back to the Capitol on Monday — for many, the first day of their spring break — to keep up the pressure on lawmakers.

Stephanie Winkler, president of the union, said teachers will be watching to see whether lawmakers pass a budget that is "in the best interest" of Kentucky students. If they don't, Winkler said, the union isn't ruling out a statewide walkout.

"Everything is still on the table," she said.

Micca Watts-Gordon, a teacher at Mill Creek Elementary School, said she and dozens of her colleagues will heed the call to spend the first day of their spring break in Frankfort.

"We've been fighting this since January," she said, adding that she even canceled a plane ticket so that she could be there.